1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a disc holder, and more particularly, to a holder having a slot on the front of the holder. The slot on the front of the disc holder permits the user to handle the disc from the center and the outer edge of the disc without touching the recorded surface of the disc, thereby preventing damage to the recorded surface.
2. Description of Related Art
It is well known that compact discs, commonly referred to as CDs, have a recorded or recordable surface that may be damaged by contact, as discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,947,281 (this patent and all other patents referred to herein are hereby incorporated herein by reference). Therefore, CDs need protection during transport and times of non-use to avoid damage of the CD and its recorded surface.
Digital versatile discs, commonly referred to as DVDs, are even more vulnerable than CDs to damage to their recorded or recordable surface. Due to the short cycle of the injection molding of the polycarbonate, DVDs are softer and more impressionable than CDs. Accordingly, users need to carefully handle recorded or recordable discs, especially DVDs, to avoid damaging the recorded surface. The present invention is a holder that is useful for either DVDs or CDs, and the term xe2x80x9cdiscxe2x80x9d used herein should be understood to refer to both DVDs and CDs.
The majority of disc holders are made of plastic or cardboard. Plastic holders in the prior art are generally called jewel boxes. Jewel boxes have a clear plastic cover and a plastic back hingedly connected to the cover. The plastic back generally has a plastic piece that protrudes from the center of the back for holding the disc in place. The use of jewel boxes as opposed to cardboard holders can have several drawbacks, many of which are discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,236,081. For example, they are larger, heavier, more complex, and more expensive than cardboard holders. Jewel boxes are also made of plastic, non-biodegradable material, which raises environmental concerns. Furthermore, jewel boxes are breakable.
As discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,518,488 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,236,081, cardboard holders avoid some of the problems associated with jewel boxes. Some cardboard holders in the prior art are complex, such as the ones described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,590,769 and 5,518,488, because they are designed to function like jewel boxes. These holders are more expensive, use more material, and are heavier than simple cardboard holders or sleeves.
Simple cardboard holders or sleeves in the prior art have the benefits of low cost and minimal size but have the drawback that they do not offer proper and easy handling, i.e., removal and replacement, of the disc into and out of the holder without touching the recorded surface. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,085,318 discloses a relatively simple cardboard holder, but the holder offers no quick and easy way for the user to remove the disc without touching the recorded surface.
In the prior art, simple cardboard holders or sleeves are usually square or rectangular and leave one of the front and back sides of the holder open and unconnected to allow the user to remove the disc. The holder is dimensioned so that the CD/DVD fits snugly inside. The snug fit is necessary to prevent the CD/DVD from falling out if the user picks up the case with the open edges facing down. This requisite snugness tends to hinder easy removal from the case, and often necessitates having to touch the outer recorded surface of the disk.
These simple prior art cardboard holders or sleeves completely cover the disc, except for perhaps a small part of the front of the CD/DVD, which is sometimes exposed by the use of a curved line along the middle of the front edge of the opening. The curved line is intended to facilitate the removal and replacement of the disc. The only way to remove a disc from this type of holder or sleeve is for the user to grasp the disc on the front and back faces. Thus, the user is forced to hold the recorded surface on the back face of the CD/DVD to pull the disc from the opening of the holder. This causes the user to leave fingerprints and smudges on the recorded surface of the disc, diminishing the performance of the CD/DVD. Insertion of discs into these simple cardboard holders does not necessarily require the user to touch the recorded surface, but handling of the recorded surface is still promoted from habit and from the user""s inability to keep a firm hold on the disc as it is inserted.
Jewel boxes tend to promote mishandling of discs during removal as well. The plastic piece in the center of the back side of the jewel case snugly holds the CD/DVD in place to avoid contact between the holder and the disc and to prevent the disc from falling from the case. Often, the amount of force needed to remove the disc from the centerpiece causes the disc to bend before it is released. Although the user does not generally need to touch the recorded surface of the CD/DVD to remove it from a jewel box, the bending and potential breakage caused by the force applied and the annoyance of having to forcibly pull the disk out of the jewel box are drawbacks associated with the use of jewel boxes.
A disc holder is provided that has slot on the front of the holder extending from an opening of the holder past the center of the disc. The slot is perpendicular to the plane of the opening of the holder and extends from the middle of the opening. The slot can either be cut from the holder during assembly or it can be perforated during manufacture but left intact so that the user can create the slot upon use of the compact disc. The slot allows the user to remove the disc from and replace the disc into the holder without touching the recorded section of the disc. The disc can be either a compact disc or a digital video disc.